Posts by Quendi

22

Watchtower 15/3/12 "Do Not Look At The Things Behind"

by BluesBrother in

there have been a couple of threads about this issue.

if this has been covered, then i am sorry, but:.

the article warns against looking back with fondness for the "good old days" don't they always do that with the "critical times we live in?

Quendi

The WTS hit rock bottom long ago with respect to its mendacity and hypocrisy, but this passage from the latest issue of The Watchtower proves that the organization is now burrowing deep into the bedrock. The leaders of the WTS have no shame. As others have pointed out, they have consistently and persistently condemned and denounced any and all who wanted a career and good life for themselves and loved ones, telling them that such thinking was selfish and Satan-inspired. Now the years are running out on many of them and they see that their lives, their abilities, and their talents have been wasted and squandered because they were chasing rainbows and mirages rather than real hopes and dreams. Meanwhile, the men who spoke these falsehoods are either dead or looking forward to a quiet and peaceful retirement in their cocoons back in New York.

And despite the utter failure of any of their predictions to come true, they continue making them! The same stale and false message they preached more than forty years ago still has currency and relevancy for the rank and file. "The End is Near!" "Armageddon is Nigh!" "The New World is in Sight!" and other mantras are constantly repeated. I look back on my life now and marvel that I believed and propagated those lies for more than thirty years. I'm glad I woke up and made good my escape while I was still capable of doing so. But what is even more amazing to me is that this religion is still a going concern, that there has been no "Watchtower Spring" that would sweep its corrupt leaders into the gutter where they belong. The words of the cited article remind me of what Isaiah said to his people long ago: "Woe to those who are saying that good is bad adn bad is good, thos who are putting edarkness for light and light for darkness, those who are putting bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!" (Isiah 5:20) I can only hope that another biblical sentiment will soon be fulfilled upon them and they will reap what they have sown.

Quendi

16

Taking Back the Holidays

by Quendi in

jw
friends

with canada having observed its own thanksgiving day, i am reminded that the holidays are approaching beginning with halloween and terminating with twelfth night on 5 january.

this will be an interesting holiday season for me.

when i became one of jehovah's witnesses, i gave them all up of course.

Quendi

I've passed another milestone on my spiritual journey: observing Christmas. I never thought I would do that again and had said as much earlier this year. But my change of heart came as a result of thinking long and hard about what I would and could make of the holiday season. What I came to realize was that its pagan roots should no more matter to me than the pagan beliefs behind wearing wedding rings on the left hand should matter to married couples. It is what the rings mean to the people involved that is important, and the same should hold true for the holidays.

So I realized that with the end of the year approaching, I had a great deal to be thankful and grateful for. And for many people, that is what the end of the year can mean for them, taking a retrospect over what has happened and how blessed they are. For me, that meant not only giving thanks, but also sharing good food, good drink and good cheer with my freinds and family. So when Thanksgiving came in November, I prepared the feast that I shared with my friends. And when Christmas came, I helped in decorating the house, shared the season's greetings, and, to my great surprise, actually received Christmas gifts from others. Those gifts came as a complete surprise. I'm currently homeless and flat broke so I had nothing to give others except my love, gratitude and good wishes. But that didn't stop my friends from giving to me. I was completely overwhelmed.

When Jehovah instituted the seasonal festivals among the Israelites he commanded them to 'be nothing but joyful'. And joy is listed as a fruit of the holy spirit. So it occurred to me that being joyful is something we humans need. We need to give and receive it. We need to share it with others. And the holidays are the perfect occasions on which to do this, all the more so at year's end when we can appreciate how blessed we have been. And it felt absolutely wonderful to feel part of something that was good, wholesome, healing and beneficial both to me and those I have come to love and care for.

The WTS has completely missed the point of holiday celebrations. And for all its talk about Jehovah's Witnesses being a joyful group of people who love each other, the emptiness and cheerlessness of Witness lives comes into sharp focus during the holiday season. I'm so glad I had people to celebrate with this year and will do so for as long as I live.

This doesn't mean that I'll take up all the holiday celebrations. I still want nothing to do with patriotic ones, and I'm not overly fond of Easter. But birthdays, Father's Day, Mother's Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas are all back on my calendar. So on this, the third day of Christmas (yes, I'm noting the twelve days of Christmas this year), I want to wishe each and every one of you all the love I can.

Quendi

49

11,824 Memorial Partakers in 2011

by FrankWTower in

there were 11,202 partakers in 2010. and 11,824 partakers in 2011.. there was an increase of 622 or 5.5% in one year.. your thoughts?.

source: 2012 yearbook (in spanish).

Quendi

Th number of Memorial partakers has risen 36.5% in just ten years, a figure I suspect is greater than the growth in the number of Witnesses over that same period. That has to be a cause of great concern for the Governing Body and anyone who still retains the power of rational thought among Jehovah's Witnesses. I would think, however, that this comparison won't be discussed in the literature, from the platform or among traveling overseers. But it may well get a lot of private discussion.

Quendi

49

11,824 Memorial Partakers in 2011

by FrankWTower in

there were 11,202 partakers in 2010. and 11,824 partakers in 2011.. there was an increase of 622 or 5.5% in one year.. your thoughts?.

source: 2012 yearbook (in spanish).

Quendi

The WTS has no choice but to continue to publish Memorial partaker figures since that has been a feature of the religion for decades. To stop counting and publishing now would spark a revolt. The hot water the Governing Body finds itself in will only get hotter since too many remember the teaching that as the end approached the number of partakers would diminish so to ignore those figures would tell the rank-and-file that something has seriously gone wrong.

The solution, as has been suggested elsewhere, will be "new light" that will a) say the number 144,000 is symbolic and b) the "faithful and discreet slave class" comprises only the Governing Body. And we may see a corollary development with an assertion that one need not be of the anointed to have a seat among the religion's ruling clique.

I agree with those who say the rank-and-file will swallow whatever the Governing Body eventually tells them hook, line and sinker. These are people who have chosen to surrender their God-given free will and power of reason to those who do not have their best interests at heart. But it is difficult for me to feel any pity for them because the alternative path is open and accessible to any and all of them. They simply won't allow themselves to set foot upon it and so deserve any bad consequences they will suffer.

Quendi

81

WT Mar 15th 2012 - 144,000 no longer a literal number?

by dozy in

reading idly through this magazine , i read the study article "rejoicing in our hope" which discusses the two "hopes" according to the wtbts ie heaven & earth.. a couple of points were of interest:.

(1) absolutely no mention at all of the 144,000 or rev 14. usually an article like this would be filled with references , but it isn't even mentioned.

it does discuss the "limited number" , but only in contrast with the "no man can number" great crowd.. (2) a much more laid back attitude towards the two hopes.

Quendi

bookmark

62

Where is the Statement That JWs Should Follow the GB Even If They Think They Are Wrong?

by Justitia Themis in

i am having difficulty locating the recent printed statement that jws should follow the gb even if they think they are wrong.

would someone please let me know where that is?.

jt.

Quendi

bookmark

14

Christmas traditions

by tec in

jw
friends

i thought it would be nice to start a thread with some of your favorite christmas traditions... especially for those who are just beginning to celebrate christmas.

we open a gift on christmas eve.

when i was a kid, it was always a new pair of pajamas.

Quendi

After determining I would never return to the organization, I had decided I would not celebrate Christmas. Now I am living in a household whose members do observe it, only not as Christ's birthday. So they are decorating the house, putting up several trees, and planning to have a Christmas feast at the home of another friend. I have been warmly and cordially invited to have a share in all these activities. For me, this will be my first Chirstmas celebration in nearly forty years.

I'm flat broke and have no money for presents to give to others, but that hasn't lessened the desire of my housemates to have me participate. So I have helped with the decorating, and plan to bake cookies as well as make a traditional Christmas pudding for the feast. Since I celebrated the American Thanksgiving last month, I suppose this is a normal next step. It's not as though I am participating in all these activities without giving them much thought and here is what I have decided.

A full and good life means celebrating joys, achievements and blessings with others. I have come to realize that for me this is what the holidays can really mean. They can and should provide occasions where I can demonstrate my love, affection, appreciation and gratitude to other people who have enriched my life. Viewed that way, I have decided that while I may not observe, mark, or celebrate all the holidays, I should certainly take part in some of them, and the ones that mean the most to my friends and family are the ones in which I should have a full share.

So for me, Christmas will mean taking part in a wonderful meal, making merry with friends and family, and demonstrating my love and affection for them in tangible ways. Jesus said there is more happiness in giving than in receiving, and the holidays are one of the ways we can give to the full. The WTS, in its typical puritanical way of viewing things, has entirely missed the point of holiday celebrations. They are meant to augment and beautify our lives. And while many use these occasions to engage in destructive behavior, that doesn't mean that the observance or celebration itself is bad or evil. So with that in mind, I am looking forward to Christmas just as I enjoyed Thanksgiving. I've already seen the benefits of having a part, and am looking forward to enjoying still more.

Quendi

32

Why I Left Jehovah's Witnesses--a 10-page essay by sd-7

by sd-7 in

jw
friends

why i left jehovahs witnesses.

they can be painful to bear, but sometimes that is part of life in a setting with many people and their various personalities.. it was my examination of evidence that did lead me to leave jehovahs witnesses.

they, of course, had failed to bear proper witness to his name.

Quendi

bookmark

4

Is the Witchtower Religion a "Couples Club"

by hamsterbait in

okay look at the pictures of happy smiling "christians" in the litterature.. todays wt study showed a meeting with people wanting to answer.. how many men?

7. how many women?

you can almost tell who is married to whom.

Quendi

I know that the WTS and its religion are hostile to single people. I once chastised an elder for always talking about his wife and family when citing examples about how the religion affects people's lives. "There are many single people in this congregation who can't identify with your examples," I told him. I might as well have been talking to a brick wall for all the good it did.

Not only is the organization hostile to single people, its take on family life is severely distorted. While purporting to use the Bible as the basis for its teachings on family life, the organization actually promotes the kind of view American television featured more than fifty years ago. It is plain that neither the Governing Body nor the senior editorial staff in Brooklyn have a clue about the realities single people have to face, and it is also equally plain that they don't want to find out.

Quendi

16

Taking Back the Holidays

by Quendi in

jw
friends

with canada having observed its own thanksgiving day, i am reminded that the holidays are approaching beginning with halloween and terminating with twelfth night on 5 january.

this will be an interesting holiday season for me.

when i became one of jehovah's witnesses, i gave them all up of course.

Quendi

I thought I'd let everyone know how my first celebration of a "worldly" holiday went. I participated in the observance of the American Thanksgiving holiday which is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November. Traditionally, this means preparing a feast in which roast turkey is the main entree.

Yours Truly volunteered to do most of the cooking and I had a blast. Planning the menu, shopping for the needed items, doing almost all of the cooking, and interacting with friends and guests was a big thrill. My housemates set a magnificent table complete with their best china, crystal and real silverware. The table also had a beautiful cloth laid over it and there were candles as well. We had water and wine to drink and I got high praise for the food.

The last time I had sat down to a table like this was when my paternal grandmother was alive more than forty years ago. The last time I ate a real Thanksgiving dinner was more than thirty years ago, before I moved to Colorado. Prior to moving here, I always ate Thanksgiving dinner with my fleshly family, something that my parents especially appreciated. In the years since, I had forgotten just how wonderful preparing and participating in such things were.

Having a full share in Thanksgiving has shown me what holidays and celebrations really mean. They are a way of connecting on an even deeper level with the people we love and care about. They are a way of giving of oneself. They are a way of soaking up as much love and appreciation as one can. And I have also seen how the Witnesses' ban on holiday observances is unchristian, unloving, unkind and even immoral. The organization's leaders have a joyless, ascetic view of life that only makes people unhappy and feeling unloved and unappreciated. I'm grateful to have left that behind.

Next is Christmas. And while I won't go as far into it as I did for Thanksgiving, I still plan to eat, drink, and make merry with friends and loved ones. My housemates and I have been invited over to some friends to celebrate. I plan on bringing a traditional Christmas plum pudding and I know I will enjoy myself. Because I have learned, if we view these occasions the right way, there is no reason we can't have a full share.

Quendi